The Ministry of Energy Transition announced on Tuesday the requisition of “three employees per shift” at the Fos-sur-Mer oil deposit “due to the worsening of supply tensions in Bouches-du-Rhône”, as a result of strikes against pension reform.
“The application is valid for 48 hours as needed, starting March 21” and refers to “essential personnel for the operation of the depot” that supplies fuel to the PACA region and the eastern Occitania region, the ministry said in a press release. . The depot also sends fuel by pipeline to the Lyon region.
Limit the sale of fuel
Half of Bouches-du-Rhône’s service stations were without some kind of fuel, and 37% were dry on Monday, according to public data analyzed by AFP. The situation was also particularly disturbed in the neighboring departments of Gard (40.9%), Vaucluse (33.33%), Var (23.24%) and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (22.22%). Nationwide, around 8% of service stations in France ran out of petrol or diesel.
The prefectures of Vaucluse and Gard decided on Monday to limit the sale of fuel at stations in the department, until Thursday inclusive, in particular to 30 liters per vehicle, banning the sale of gasoline in drums. The lack of fuel also affects some western departments, such as Loire-Atlantique.
France has 200 oil deposits. The Ufip, the union of oil companies, mentioned on Monday “between five and eight blocked fuel tanks.” In the refineries, which continue to produce even if the fuel is not shipped, the strikes have also intensified recently, with the closure this weekend of production at the TotalEnergies site in Normandy, then at the Pétroineos refinery in Lavera (Bouches -du-Rhône).
The police intervened during the night from Monday to Tuesday to unblock the Donges oil terminal (Loire-Atlantique), which had been occupied by strikers for a week, to facilitate the unloading of a shipment of diesel.
Source: BFM TV
